The Mighty Boosh
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The Mighty Boosh is a British cult comedy which has taken on several incarnations as a series of stage shows, a BBC radio series and a BBC Three TV series. The Mighty Boosh was created by Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, who star as Howard Moon and Vince Noir respectively. The show is about the two friends and their surreal and magical adventures. Apparently, the title comes from a haircut that Noel's brother Michael Fielding had when he was younger; Noel overheard Michael's Portuguese friend calling it a "mighty bush".
As a stage show, The Mighty Boosh had no strict setting, but for the radio series and the first television series the action was based around a zoo called Bob Fossil's Funworld ("Where fun, plus world, equals... Worldfun") and later The Zooniverse. Though the episodes would invariably begin and end in the zoo, the action would tend to leave the zoo for more bizarre realms, such as the arctic tundra and limbo. The second series had an even looser setting, based in a flat in Dalston. Fielding and Barratt are currently working on a third series.
Series one can now be viewed on Teleport from Telewest in the UK and series one has now aired on BBC America.
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[edit] Style
The Mighty Boosh specialise in dark, surreal, comic fantasy full of non-sequiturs and pop-cultural references. Episodes often feature elaborate musical numbers in a variety of genres, including electro (or new wave music), heavy metal, funk, and rap, and there are many shorter songs throughout the shows. Barratt and Fielding write and sing the series' music themselves, and Fielding sings the show's psychedelic theme song. Fielding also designs many of the show's graphics. The TV series has many animated sequences, puppets, and obviously cheap but impressive special effects. Fielding and Barratt play many of the supporting characters themselves, usually disguised on TV with elaborate makeup, and with Rich Fulcher taking on many other roles in the first TV series but fewer in the second.
The dialogue is tightly scripted but will feature some improvisation. In series one, the TV show opens and often closes with Vince and Howard addressing the audience in front of a curtain, and the viewer is led to believe that Howard and Vince wrote the show themselves. The second series departs from this, instead starting in front of the flat. Unlike the radio series which is played as if for "real", the characters on the TV series all seem to be aware that they are in a TV show, and Vince especially will often break the fourth wall to address the audience and comment on the action.
Little attention is paid to continuity; for instance, in Stolen, the first episode of the radio series, Bob Fossil is forced to give up being boss of the zoo, renaming it "Howard Moon's Fun World", yet by the second episode, Jungle, he is back in charge. In the first TV episode, Killeroo, it is revealed that Howard has a hideous deformity on his torso. He is seen shirtless in later episodes (such as Electro), and no deformity is visible. Bollo, though dead at the end of Bollo, remains very much alive in all subsequent episodes.
[edit] Characters
Though the various incarnations of The Mighty Boosh have seen many recurring characters, it has evolved a "central cast" of four or five characters who will usually appear:
Howard TJ Moon (Julian Barratt): Self-proclaimed "Jazz Maverick" and would-be novelist, musician, photographer, explorer, poet, athlete, porpoise jockey and fisherman. Moon is disrespected and insulted by every other major character to appear in the show, though Vince shows a level of affection towards him. His love of jazz and literature appears to exemplify an intellectual being. However, he is unable to show much of this intelligence, and is often reminded by others of his failures, especially when he is being overly pretentious. Howard is described by Vince as "quite generic-looking", like a "pink balloon". He also has "small eyes, sort of like a crab".
Vince Noir (Noel Fielding): Self-proclaimed "King of the Mods" and "Goth Fairy" and "Camden leisure pirate" as well as fashion icon and would-be musician ("Vince Noir - rock 'n' roll star!"). He can talk to animals, earning him the nickname "Mowgli in flares". Vince is Howard's best friend though the two often argue. He appears to get by on his looks, charm and style alone, and, unlike Howard, is extremely popular. He can be innocent and childlike, and has a profound love for Gary Numan, David Bowie and Mick Jagger.
Bob Fossil (Rich Fulcher): Brash and, it has been suggested, retarded, American manager of the zoo, known as Bob Fossil's Funworld in the radio series and The Zooniverse in series one of the television show. He seems to like Vince, but intensely dislikes Howard. In the TV series he is apparently attracted to Dixon Bainbridge, whom he mistakenly considers a friend. He has limited knowledge of the animals and instead refers to them by their apparent characteristics, such as calling the zoo's bear "the hairy Russian carpet-guy", and Bollo the gorilla "the naked, little squashed-up hairy boy". Fossil and the zoo were written out of the show in the second series of the TV show, but Fulcher plays a different role in each episode, including the bingo caller in the episode Nanageddon, a fisherman in The Legend of Old Gregg and a sailor in The Nightmare of Milky Joe. The character of Bob Fossil does appear, however, in the ending to The Nightmare of Milky Joe as the presenter of the "Pie-Face Showcase".
Bollo (Peter Elliott for TV series 1, Dave Brown for TV series 2 and radio series): The oldest ape in captivity. His age is disputed: in the radio shows he's described as "100 years old", while in second TV series it is given as 40, his "press" age being 29. In the radio show and first TV series he is a resident of the zoo, first appearing in the episode Mutants posing as Caesar whilst Vince paints his portrait. In the second TV series he is Naboo's familiar and lives in the flat with Howard, Naboo and Vince. Some facts of his long life are revealed: he has a regular DJ spot at a Roller Disco which has raised his status such that he is able to play out at Fabric, he once hosted a chat show, and he killed his childhood friend, first cutting off his feet and then his head.
Naboo the Enigma (Michael Fielding): Appears only in the TV series. A mystical and mysterious - yet very laid back - shaman. Originally worked in the zoo as a kiosk operator, but in the second TV series shares a flat with Howard, Vince and Bollo. More often than not, he rescues Howard and Vince from the dangerous situations they find themselves in. Naboo is played by Noel Fielding's brother Michael, who joined the cast by accident when he tagged along to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Dave Brown is credited with having played the most characters in the series.
[edit] Recurring Themes
- Vince and Howard, who, in the first series, actually pose as actors themselves playing the parts of zookeepers in the show, make little effort to hide that The Mighty Boosh is a production with budget constraints (though the budget itself is not negligible). For example, in Bollo, when Howard is supposedly haunting Vince from beyond the grave:
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Vince: Are you really a ghost? That is genius... [swings arm at Howard's chest] |
- Some of the artwork created by Noel Fielding for the series features the polo mint in some form or another. In the opening theme, for instance, the logo is displayed amidst a field of swirling polos in the background. Also, in Bollo, the Ape of Death and his minions appear to be wearing large polos as part of their outfits. "Babu-yagu", The Hitcher, a comically Cockney, large thumbed, dagger-wielding antagonist to the main characters, is also portrayed with a polo for his left eye.
- Both Vince and Howard are shown to have very distinct musical tastes, particularly Howard, who takes pride in being a multi-instrumentalist with a passion for jazz from his youth. This is in contrast to Vince's taste for more contemporary, electronic or rock-based music, particularly Gary Numan, and he is supposed to have converted many of the animals into fans of this musician. Youth subcultures associated with these styles of music are also touched upon, with the two leading characters often trying to cast themselves into certain stereotypes (goth, mod, rocker, et cetera), sometimes to attract members of the opposite sex.
- Mrs. Gideon is the centre of Howard's failing love life. However hard he tries, Vince always seems to get far more attention and recognition than him. This comes to a climax when, after returning Mrs. Gideon's prize python, Tony, she cannot remember Howard's name, despite his having worked there for "10 years". Ultimately, Vince has to hold up a giant placard with "HOWARD" scrawled on it to aid her memory. This theme is confined to the first series.
- The show has had a few particularly memorable moments when inanimate objects in a scene have been replaced by a person dressed as the object, personifying it. A supporting character sets up a gag by telling Howard and Vince to "gather round" or "come closer" in order that they may be informed of something, usually a story critical to the plot. When a set piece - played by an actor dressed to resemble it - begins to follow suit, it is told back (e.g. "Not you, Fire" - Series 1). Trademark gags like these, even when recurring only occasionally, have contributed significantly to the show's cult status, and are fan favourites on tours. It is also similar to the technique of puppetry used in The Young Ones.
- Vince has usually helped some supporting characters in some way or another and as a show of their thanks they give him a horn to blow in case he is in danger.Whenever he does though they are preoccupied in an odd manner. An example would be the sandpaper man in The Fountain of Youth episode in series 2, who is masturbating to pictures of DIY catalogues when Vince sounds his horn.
[edit] History
[edit] Stage shows
Fielding and Barratt conceived of The Mighty Boosh whilst working on Stewart Lee's Edinburgh show King Dong vs. Moby Dick in which they played a giant penis and a whale respectively.
Barratt and Fielding took The Mighty Boosh to the Edinburgh Festival in 1998, recruiting fellow comedian Rich Fulcher, whom the pair had met working on a television series called Unnatural Acts. The show won the Perrier Award for Best Newcomer. During their residency at the Hen and Chickens Theatre in North London the following year, they built up a cult following and introduced new characters whilst developing old ones.
In 1999, they returned to the Edinburgh Festival with a new show, Arctic Boosh, which sold out every night and won a nomination for the Perrier Award. It was the first time Dave Brown worked on a Boosh show playing a variety of characters, as well as acting as choreographer and photographer.
In 2000, while performing their third stage show Autoboosh at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, they won the festival's Barry Humphries Award. Noel's brother Michael and his friend Pete (who worked in Dixons) also went along for the journey, but ended up going on stage with the cast every night. Michael became a permanent fixture.
In 2006, "the Boosh" recommenced their live stage show with a sell-out UK tour culminating in two extra dates at the Brixton Academy, South London.
[edit] Radio series
The Boosh were signed by the BBC soon after the success of Autoboosh and in October 2001 The Mighty Boosh radio series, produced by Danny Wallace, was first broadcast on BBC London Live, then BBC Radio 4 , and later BBC 7. This six-part series won the Douglas Adams Award for innovative comedy writing, an award which was created to honour this specific series and has not been awarded since. The set is now available from the BBC on Audio CD.
The Mighty Boosh returned to radio again on 22 October 2004, when they did a comedy special for The Breezeblock, a show on BBC Radio 1.
- Episode List
- Stolen: A mysterious character called "The Phantom" is stealing animals from the zoo. Howard and Vince go on a mission to find the thief and the sinister figure behind the plot.
- Jungle: Tired of Bob Fossil's management, Howard and Vince venture into the zoo's Jungle Room in search of former zoo boss Tommy Nookah, who disappeared there long ago.
- Jazz: Vince forms a rock band, but after annoying the guitarist Dave, and driving him to quit, he calls on Howard to overcome the Spirit of Jazz and join them.
- Mutants: When keeper Joey Moose is savagely bitten, Howard and Vince investigate and discover Bob Fossil is breeding mutant animals to sell to wealthy businessmen.
- Tundra: Bob Fossil sends Vince to Spain and Howard to the Arctic to collect more animals for the zoo. Our heroes end up back together facing the perils of the tundra.
- Hitcher: Howard and Vince take Tony the prawn to the Zoo For Animal Offenders. Along the way they meet a mysterious hitch-hiker, and end up in the bizarre world of "The People of the Box".
Additional characters who appeared or were mentioned in the radio series can be found under the list of characters from The Mighty Boosh. Lyrics to the songs performed on the radio and stage shows can be found here.
The plots to all the episodes except Stolen were reworked and reused in the first TV series.
[edit] Television series
Like many other successful British comedies such as Dead Ringers, Goodness Gracious Me and Little Britain, The Mighty Boosh made the transition from radio to television. In 2004, an eight part television series - also called The Mighty Boosh - was commissioned by the BBC. It was directed by Paul King and produced by Baby Cow Productions. The pilot episode was directed by Steve Bendelack, and a large portion of the pilot episode was used in the actual series, in the episode Tundra.
Series 1 of the television version of the The Mighty Boosh expanded on the radio series. It was first broadcast on BBC Three on 18 May 2004 and, from 9 November, also on BBC Two, although in a different order and with the mild swearing censored or edited out. (The censors were not infallible in their task, however. In one case, a word that had been bleeped out in a particular scene was left written in fully legible form on Howard's back seconds later.) A second series began showing on BBC Three on 26 July 2005, though strangely with a smaller budget. A full-length preview of the following week's episode was available online at the BBC's Boosh webpage. Series 1 was released on DVD (Region 2) on August 29, 2005, and Series 2 on February 13, 2006. Series 1 has also been released on DVD (Region 4) in Australia.
According to a news item on a fan website, a third series is planned to air in summer of 2007. This was confirmed by Fielding and Barrett on Edith Bowmans's radio 1 show on the 8th November, stating that they are currently recording the episodes
- Episode List
Pilot: (see Tundra).
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- Series 1
- Killeroo: Howard is blackmailed by Bob Fossil, who forces him to fight a kangaroo; Vince decides to help him by training him up.
- Mutants: Animals go missing in the zoo, and when Joey Moose also disappears, Howard decides to investigate.
- Bollo: Bollo becomes terminally ill, but the Reaper mistakenly takes Howard instead while he is dressed as an ape. Vince travels to Monkey Hell to save him.
- Tundra: After Dixon Bainbridge boasts to the zoo about himself, Howard travels to the arctic with Vince to prove he is more of a man than Bainbridge by retrieving the Egg of Mantumbi.
- Jungle: Bainbridge is selling the zoo, but Howard is determined not to let him, and ventures into the jungle room in search of Tommy, Howard's hero
- Charlie: Vince's illustrated stories about a hideous bubblegum creature named Charlie become famous, and he becomes a writer. However, the dream is quickly shattered by dastardly villain and zoo owner Bainbridge. Meanwhile, Howard undergoes psychiatric help from resident shaman Naboo.
- Electro: Vince joins an "electro" band, but after annoying keyboard player Johnny Two-Hats out of the band, he calls on Howard to overcome the Spirit of Jazz and help him out.
- Hitcher: A bear goes wild in the zoo in disgust of Howard's jazz funk music, Howard and Vince take him to the Zoo For Animal Offenders. Vince leads them along a forest road and they soon get lost.
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- Series 2
- Call of the Yeti: On a cabin holiday in the woods, Howard sets out to become a famous photographer.
- The Priest and the Beast: For inspiration, Naboo tells Howard and Vince the story of Rudi Van Disario and Spider Dijon, the bongo brothers who went searching for a new sound.
- Nanageddon: Trying to impress goth girls, Howard and Vince set loose an evil demon.
- The Fountain of Youth: Howard and Vince travel to Xooberon to find the fountain of youth.
- The Legend of Old Gregg: After a failed gig, Howard and Vince go fishing to get the creative juices flowing.
- The Nightmare of Milky Joe: Howard and Vince are trapped on a desert island with only Howard's basic tools and a Kings of Leon CD, after being made to walk the plank for cutting the captain's hair.
Lyrics to the songs performed on the first series' shows can be found here.
[edit] The Mighty Boosh 2006 tour
The Boosh went on tour again in 2006. The main story, "The Ruby of Kukundu" - in which Howard and Vince travel to the Arctic and Spain respectively in search of the mystical gem that can restore the life of Naboo, slain by The Hitcher - draws heavily upon the well-known "Tundra" scenario used previously both in the TV and radio series, as well as the Edinburgh show Arctic Boosh. The tour unites all the main characters - Vince, Howard, Bob Fossil, Naboo and Bollo - and brings in the most popular of the minor characters - the Moon, The Hitcher, Old Gregg and Rudi Van Disario - for a number of cameo appearances.
Due to the success of the tour, two extra Brixton Academy dates were added for 21 April and 22 April 2006. This was due to the filming of the 2-disc live DVD, which was released in the UK on 13 November 2006.
[edit] Trivia
- Throughout the TV series, euros are the currency used, despite the fact that the series is set in Britain, where the Pound sterling is used.
[edit] External links
